


Heartstruck

by strawberrycupcake_huckleberrypie



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ben Solo Doesn't Turn to the Dark Side, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst with a Happy Ending, Ben Solo has game but he’s Reysexual, Brooklyn, Dating, Eye Color, Eyes, Falling In Love, First Meetings, Flirting, Flirting like it’s an Olympic sport, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Crack, Fluff and Smut, Gimme All the Good Stuff, Idiots in Love, Meant To Be, Medium Burn, Meet-Cute, Missed Connections, New York, New York City, OTP Feels, One True Pairing, POV Alternating, POV Ben Solo, POV Rey (Star Wars), Phillip Altman-flirting, Rey doesn’t know it yet but she’s Bensexual, Romance, Romantic Soulmates, Sex, Smut, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Sweet, The Force Ships It, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Trains, True Love, Wish Fulfillment, background stormpilot, boyscout with a filthy mouth kink, hard core flirting, sweet badass girl kink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-18
Updated: 2018-08-29
Packaged: 2019-06-29 06:34:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 17,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15723936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strawberrycupcake_huckleberrypie/pseuds/strawberrycupcake_huckleberrypie
Summary: “Rey,” Rose breathed reverently. “Your eyes. They’re…”“Hazel,” Paige finished.“You’reheartstruck.”“I’m heartstruck,” Rey repeated, bewildered.They were on a crowded train when the spark struck. How do you find your soulmate once you've lost them in a crowd?





	1. Missed Connections

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nancylovesreylo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nancylovesreylo/gifts), [SulaRae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SulaRae/gifts).



 

   


_Rey_

 

“You did not.”

 

“I did. Stop laughing, it’s not that funny! It’s embarrassing!”

 

“Oh my God, it _is_ funny! It actually is so funny! You kill me, Peanut, you know that? I can’t believe you walked into the men’s room while your boss was taking a leak!”

 

“Finn! Stop! Knock it off, I’m serious!” she begged, her pleas falling on deaf ears. "Stop _laughing!”_

 

Rey chuckled along despite herself while he folded over in laughter, wiping his eyes as he straightened. His rich laughter drowned out the crowd around her as she raised an eyebrow, watching him compose himself.

 

“Finn, for God’s sake, people are staring.”

 

“They’re not staring at me,” he argued, as he worked his giggles down again. “You’re the one on the train. They’re laughing at how crazy you sound, talkin' about your boss and his junk!”

 

“Good lord,” she muttered beneath an eye roll. “Alright now, that’s enough. Come on,” she laughed before schooling her mouth into a grim line. “I called you for moral support, not a standup routine.”

 

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry.”

 

“Thank you. Ya know, it was super embarrassing. I wasn’t even looking, just tapping away on my phone and I pushed the door open and there’s my boss, with his back to the door standing at a urinal. I’ve never been so humiliated in all my life.”

 

Finn howled as she huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, awaiting his recovery.

 

“You don’t understand,” she insisted as he sighed amusedly. She glared into the phone while she watched him hold his stomach and roll around dramatically while he laughed.

 

“Oh no, I understand completely,” he snorted, working his way into a new gale of laughter. Rey rolled her eyes. “You marched into the bathroom while your boss had his dick out and you probably turned five shades of red and left before he could zip it up! Didn’t you?”

 

Finn’s face contorted as he made efforts to restrain himself.

His smile threatened to split wide before Rey stopped him with a warning. _“Finn.”_

 

“I’m sorry. Alright! Alright! I’ll stop. Are you still coming over for dinner tonight?”

 

“Yeah, I guess. I’m heading home early so, I’ll have time to get changed and then I’ll grab some chips and salsa from Mi Casita on the way over. Six o’clock?”

 

“Or before. Whatever.”

 

“Okay. Love you.”

 

“Love you.”

 

Rolling the earbuds neatly, she smiled despite herself as she tucked the phone inside her purse and reached for the silver handrail.

The train lurched to a stop and Rey stood, dragging her purse up and straightening the paperwork in her arms. She moved towards the doors as they slid open, wandering distractedly in the sea of busy people.

 

The crowd swelled as travelers traded places, stepping past one another to swap locations. Absentmindedly, her eyes glued to the manila envelope in her arms, Rey worked at the folder brackets while her practiced steps carried her to the platform.

 

A flash caught her eye as a hot pink spark bit her elbow. The jolt surged through her arm knocking her sideways, shocking her intensely. Stronger than static, more forceful than electricity, she stumbled as she shook her head, disoriented.

 

_What?_

_Who?_

_Where?_

 

She spun eagerly to find the source, scanning the crowd as it merged and flowed around her. Her eyes scoured the crush of humans, anxiously seeking the origin of the connection but, no one’s eyes caught hers. No one else was parked where Rey had landed, five feet from the train doors, startled or searching for her.

 

Instead, strangers sped past her stationary form as she turned circles, wild-eyed. A mass of humanity moved with purpose as the train refilled and the throng around her thinned.

 

She stood paralyzed, hyperventilating and Rey panicked as she realized with stunning clarity she’d lost him.

Something had happened, she knew in an instant, and yet, she’d been too slow to catch him and here she was.

 

Standing alone.

 

The train departed as she staggered from the track, the sole disembarking passenger left on the platform and her hair flew away from her collar as the rumbling train drafted behind her.

 

Dazed, she walked to her brownstone vacillating between elation and heartbreak. She’d been certain of what she’d felt, immediate, wondrous relief flooding as the moment finally arrived but, she must have been mistaken. There’s no way it could have been what she’d thought.

She’d never heard of one partner left standing alone after the spark hit.

 

Someone had to have felt it.

Someone else had to have walked away from that train. Or onto it.

 

 _Oh God,_ she thought. _How will I ever find him?_

_Maybe it was something else. Maybe it wasn’t what I thought._

 

 _ <Fat chance,> _ a whispering voice taunted. _ <You know what it was.> _

 

“Hey,” Paige called as she pranced down the steps towards Rey. “You coming up?”

 

“Oh,” she said, shaking from her trance. “Hey. Yeah. Coming up.”

 

Paige eyed her suspiciously as her feet stalled, her hand resting on the iron railing.

 

“You okay?”

 

“Me? Yeah. Fine.”

 

“You seem…different. Something’s different,” Paige said, studying her, moving closer.

 

Rey’s heart pounded as she held her breath.

 

“Rey, oh my God,” Paige exclaimed, her eyes widening as a smile brightened her face. “Your eyes! They’re not green! They’re hazel!”

 

“They are?” Rey scampered up the stairs, Paige hot on her heels as she flung the door back, ignoring Paige’s streaming questions as she hurried.

 

“They’re hazel! Your eyes changed colors! Rey, it happened! Did it happen? Did you find him? Your soulmate? Who is it? Do you know him? How did it happen? Where were you?”

 

Her feet only slowed once she slammed open the bathroom door, hands planted on the sink to peer closely into the mirror. A pair of newly-blended hazel eyes peered back where apple-green had always resided.

“What happened?” Rose shouted as she entered the bathroom behind Paige and Rey, scrutinizing Rey’s reflection alongside them. “What’s going on? What are we looking at-“ Rose gasped as she pitched forward and her mouth dropped open.

 

“Rey,” she breathed reverently. “Your eyes. They’re…”

 

“Hazel,” Paige finished.

 

“You’re heartstruck.”

 

“I’m heartstruck,” Rey repeated, bewildered.

 

“You’re heartstruck. It happened. Your soulmate, who is he?” Rose demanded.

 

“I…I don’t know!”

 

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

 

“I don’t _know!_ I was getting off the train and I felt the spark and…”

 

“You _felt_ it? You really felt the spark?”

 

“Yeah. Well, I mean, I’m pretty sure I felt it. I mean, I don’t have anything to compare it to but, yeah. I mean, I think so.”

 

“What did it feel like?” 

 

“Like…like being bitten or stung,” she explained as she wracked her brain. “It didn’t hurt but, it was like, a bee sting. Or a horseshoe fly.”

 

“Ouch,” Paige commented. “Maybe I _don’t_ want one.”

 

“That’s it,” Rose announced definitively. “That’s what they say it feels like. That’s gotta be it. Plus, look at your eyes. They’re totally a different color.”

 

All three looked back at the mirror and studied Rey’s brand new eye color.

 

Rose elbowed her. “So, who was it? Anyone you know?”

 

“I don’t know,” Rey said sadly.

 

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

 

“I mean, I couldn’t tell. I couldn’t find him! I just, _bam!_ Felt it and then when I turned around I couldn’t see who it was.”

 

 

“Oh my god this is so romantic,” Paige said.

 

“Are you kidding? This is a nightmare,” Rose argued.

 

 

Rey bit her lip and stared at her unfamiliar eyes. All three considered thoughtfully before Rey huffed a sigh and Paige grinned.

 

“Well, at least you know he’s got brown eyes,” she said with a sly smile.

 

“Yeah,” Rose said, observing carefully. “Has to be deep brown based on how dark your eyes have gotten.”

 

“Brown eyes,” Rey repeated, images floating through her mind as she imagined a faceless soulmate with deeply brown, soulful eyes.

 

“You’ve got a soulmate,” Paige said wistfully as she squeezed Rey’s shoulder. “Somewhere out there, right now, you’ve got a soulmate.”

 

“With brown eyes,” Rose reminded.

 

Rey nodded.

 

_Soulmate._

_Heartstruck._

_Brown eyes._

 

If her online image search for brown eyes became the major source of inspiration while she climaxed around a toy over the next several weeks, moaning and whining to her empty room as she imagined the pair gazing sinfully down at her while she writhed, that only make perfect sense.

 


	2. Classifieds

 

 

_Ben_

 

_No fuckin’ way. It’s true. All of it._

 

Ben teetered backwards and fell into the seat he’d vacated as the crowd pressed towards him, filling the train.

He’d just been minding his own business on his train ride back to Leia’s - well, _mostly_ minding his own business, he couldn’t help it if the girl beside him was chatting on her phone over FaceTime loudly enough for Ben to overhear. His wrist grazed her arm as he strode forward, and his heart stuttered.

 

It was _her._ The girl.

The one he’d thought so much about, doubted he’d find, half-heartedly argued never existed.

 

Her bronze skin flashed against his and energy pulsed up his arm straight to his head, making him dizzy. He’d landed his ass on the plastic bench behind him with a _thud_ , a throng of humans blocking his exit.

 

The doors slid closed before he could exit, and he’d watched her from a distance, bodies blocking his view as she’d turned a confused circle on the platform. His brain raced and he broke into a sweat, wondering how to comfort that lost look on her face. Only a moment later, the train jerked into motion breezing Ben down the tracks, away from his soulmate.

 

_Soulmate._

 

It was the first time in his entire goddamn life the universe smiled on him, lasting approximately two minutes before it fucked him over again.

 

He’d wasted no time jumping off at the next stop, reversing his route to backtrack but, his mood darkened with every moment that passed. Surely, she wouldn’t still be there. No woman as lovely as his would loiter in a train station, hoping a strange man would wander by and proposition her with a lifetime proposal.

What would he say, even if he found her?

 

_“Hey baby, did you feel that spark?”_

 

He was pretty sure he’d seen some low-quality porn at some point that began similiarly.

 

Sure enough, the station was bustling when he returned, the city emptying of commuters as Ben scanned the tired businesswomen with glassy eyes and smudged lipgloss while he gently pushed through the crowds. His height gave him advantage and he’d paced for over an hour, stopping every time he’d talked himself into leaving, granting himself one more look around for her but, it was no use.

 

She was gone.

 

He rubbed his wrist and slumped into his seat with a deflated sigh as he restarted his journey to Leia’s, and texted her to _please chill out_ when she predictably requested his ETA.

It was no better the next day, as Ben planted himself in the identical space on the same train at the exact time he’d intercepted her the day prior only to be disappointed further. The Portuguese man seated beside him certainly wasn’t his girl, and neither was the young, put-upon mother and her three-year-old the day after that.

The last day Ben was in town, Leia rode the train beside him and he tuned her out completely as he watched expectantly for his girl’s arrival at the same time he’d originally found her.

 

“Who are you looking for?”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“I said, who are you looking for, son?”

 

“What? Oh. No one. Nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

 

“You don’t look like you’re looking for no one. You’ve had your eyes glued to the doors ever since we left the station.”

 

“Nothing, Mom. _Jesus._ Nothing. It’s no one. I’m not.”

 

“Uh-huh,” Leia nodded, unconvinced as she rolled her eyes. “Sure, Ben. _Sure.”_

 

  
In the end, she wasn’t on the train that day, anyhow.

She didn’t show and Ben was out of time, expected back in Boston.

 

He wondered whether he’d imagined the whole thing. Maybe she’d decided she didn’t want a soulmate. Maybe she was progressive and she was already in a relationship. She’d told the guy she’d been FaceTiming she fucking _loved_ him, after all. Loudly.

His insecurities dogpiled and pummeled him as he drove back to Boston, shoving the stick shift into gear punishingly while he worked his jaw.

 

Maybe she belonged to someone else.

That would be just like his life, wouldn’t it?

He wanted her but, she was fine without him.

 

He had no other way to explain her absence and no way to find her. He arrived in Boston rolling his shoulders after four and a half hours of tense driving and headed straight to the gym. Hitting the heavy bag never felt better.   
He was a fucking moron and he didn't deserve a gorgeous, bright woman like that one. Hell, he'd just sat there on his ass like a genius and let her get away.

She’d had a lilt to her voice, an accent caressing the edges of her words as he’d eavesdropped on her conversation that day, and lucky for Ben it supplied his perverted brain with enough ammo to jerk off for weeks. No way was he finding some random woman to hook up with when he had a soulmate. If he’d told him once, his father had told him a thousand times: _women always find out_.

Besides, there was only one woman he was interested in being with now, damn it.

 

The one he couldn’t stop thinking about and, ironically enough, also had no way of finding.

 

 _His_ girl.

His days ambled on, work, gym, eat, sleep in pathetic repetition for weeks until a text interrupted his routine and piqued his interest for the first time since he’d left New York.

 

_Poe: Hey, man. Come up this wknd,_

_U need 2 meet new BF and u know I throw a good party_

 

Heading up to Poe’s meant a noisy evening surrounded by drunk youngsters but, it also meant Ben would have a chance to play creepy stalker again, spending way too much time on the train looking for his soulmate. He texted back with uncharacteristic speed.

 

_Ben: Okay. Sounds good. Who’s the new boyfriend?_

 

_Poe: Cool. Come up Fri. Finn Jackson, here’s a pic_

 

_Ben: Will do. When are you going to stop texting like a kid?_

 

_Poe: When R U gonna get the stick out of ur butt?_

 

_Ben: I’m rolling my eyes._

 

_Poe: learn 2 emoji, bro_

He'd known how to ignore Poe Dameron since they’d rushed together years earlier as college freshmen so, Ben just smirked to himself as he clicked the attachment and leaned in to study the photo of the new boyfriend. For the second time in four weeks, Ben’s lungs burned while he held his breath, his eyes expanding as he stared at the phone.

 

_It can’t be._

 

The muted, laughing guy she’d chatted with smiled at Ben from the photo as he leaned closely and gawked. Poe stood with an arm around him, clearly proud, holding the phone high for the selfie while another face shined up at the camera, just at the edge of the frame.

Behind Finn Jackson’s far shoulder there stood a girl with hazel eyes, her rosy cheeks and smile radiating at him as Ben Solo laughed out loud for the first time in weeks.

 

_His girl._

A weekend away sounded like a stellar plan.


	3. Sports

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> my precious @rileybabe made the edit at the top, and my darling @sagemcmae made the one at the bottom.  
> You ladies are incredible and you made me smile!!!!  
> I LOVE THEM BOTH SO MUCH I CANNOT DEAL.
> 
> Thanks all for playing along and enjoying this little story, hope you're finding it as fun as I am. <3  
> * _This_ chapter has the prompt that @nancylovesreylo and @sularae suggested _"He's not my boyfriend"_ which started this whole mess.  
>  See? I followed a rule! I followed a rule!  
> Kinda.

 

_Rey_

 

“I don’t know, Finn. I’m just not really in a partying mood,” she whined into the phone.

 

“Rey, come _on_. I’ve been asking you to come out for weeks and you keep coming up with excuses.”

 

“I’m just so tired after this week at work. The paper is really running me ragged, and I was just gonna stay in tonight, relax with a good book, and eat some feelings. Besides, everyone will just ask me about my eyes and I won’t have any answers. ‘ _Oooh, Rey, you must be heartstruck.’ ‘Oooh, Rey, tell us about your soulmate.’_ I never know what to say,” she pouted.

 

“Uh, how about say it’s none of their fucking business?” Finn offered.

 

“Yeah, that really sounds like me.” 

 

“You don’t have to say anything. You don’t owe them an explanation. You have a soulmate, he’s out there somewhere and you’re gonna find him. It’s as simple as that. Have you heard anything good from the ad, yet?”

 

“If I had heard from the ad, you would have heard me screaming about it from there, Peanut. Trust me.”

 

Her eyes flitted across the room to the kitchen table where BB lazily sprawled in the early evening sun beside the Herald.

Fred and George had planted her Missed Connections ad nice and high on the Classifieds page every day for the last two weeks, in addition to posting on Craigslist. Rose and Paige fell all over themselves laughing at some of the responses, especially the ones including dick pics, and there had been one or two promising responses but, no soulmate.

 

“Well, here are your choices. You can either get your cute little toosh to Poe’s by seven with Rosie and Paige or I can come drag you there myself. I don’t know who this soulmate of yours is but, you ain’t gonna find him sitting at home alone on a Friday night with ice cream and pizza rolls.”

 

“Who says I’m making pizza rolls?” she argued, her gaze falling on the pre-heating oven, a bag of Totino’s beside the greased pan.

 

“Rey. Seriously. You’re my sister, my virtual twin since age four. I fucking know you’re making pizza rolls.”

 

“Fine,” she groaned. “I’ll be there.”

 

“Seven.”

 

“I’ll _be_ there. _God.”_

 

“ _Yes!_ Thank you. Oh, and Peanut, change out of your pjs first?”

 

“M’not wearing pjs,” she muttered, looking down at her yoga pants.

 

 _Doesn’t count_.

 

“Sure you’re not,” he chuckled. “Don’t be late or I’m coming to drag your ass there! Love you!”

 

“Love you,” she sighed as the call ended.

 

Damn it.

_There goes a night of self-care with pizza rolls, mint chocolate chip ice cream, Google image search and my vibe._

 

It wasn’t until she climbed into the back of the Uber with the Tico sisters that she assessed herself critically. She’d lazily chosen a strappy sundress, inappropriate for fall weather, hastily paired with black leggings and a denim jacket. Her indifference to her clothing ended with the heart-palpitating realization he could be anywhere.

Literally.

Rey could meet her soulmate anywhere, at anytime.

 

It was what Paige reminded her of continually, whispering as they walked city streets the last month, clinging to Rey’s elbow in a way that reminded her of the pink spark that had flown between her skin and her man’s.

 

“That could be him,” Paige hissed as they passed men on the street. “Or him. He’s cute.”

 

“He has blue eyes,” Rey whispered back, taking note of her heart’s calm rhythm.

 

“You could see him at any moment. This is so exciting! Just think, Rey, you could run into him in a coffee shop or a bookstore or church.”

 

“We don’t go to church.”

 

“Whatever,” Paige shoved her gently. “I’m just saying, you could meet him anytime and it’ll be this major surprise. Isn’t that exciting?”

 

Rey didn’t have the heart to continually shut down Paige’s excitement, even though she found the situation more torturous than thrilling.

 

Waiting for a second chance meeting with her soulmate? How was that statistically probable? What if he had taken one look at her and decided he wasn’t interested? What if he was already with someone? Or married? Or a priest? What if he didn’t believe in soulmates, like the Anti movement people she’d interviewed?

 

Whatever the reason, _he_ hadn’t been the one standing on the platform looking like an idiot after the spark hit. Rey had spent a month with newly-minted hazel eyes and nothing to show for it except an increasingly filthier google search history of brown-eyed men and a pair of roommates who were driving her crazy with speculation.

 

Surveying her kicky ankle boots and black-clad knees peeking out beneath her short floral dress, though Rey felt excitement creep into her heart and pick up the beat.

 

 _Really, I_ could _see him at any moment,_ she allowed, and smiled as she watched the city speed past her window.

 

The anticipation carried her while she buzzed around Poe’s apartment, the music pounding as she made her way through the small crowd. Finn kissed her cheek as she dropped her purse on the kitchen counter and she sipped experimentally while canvassing the population from behind her beer bottle. A few men were strangers, no one close enough to thoroughly investigate and it’s not like she could walk up to them and take a magnifying glass to their eyeballs.

 

 _“You, sir, with the cute butt, please come with me,”_ she could imagine saying, picturing herself lining up all unattached men and scanning their eyes one at a time.

 

_Actually, that wasn’t a bad idea. Why hadn’t anyone come up with that idea before?_

 

 _ <Likely because other people’s soulmates don’t ghost them._>

 

She took a bigger swig of her beer before setting it aside, and tugged Poe to the living room dance floor to get lost in the music.

 

By eight o’clock she was sweaty and happier, the endorphins draining her tension as she danced. She flopped onto the couch beside Rose to catch her breath while Finn took over with Poe, their dancing exponentially dirtier as soon as they partnered and she threw her head back and laughed as Finn wiggled his eyebrows at her.

 

“Hey, I’m Jack,” came a voice from beside her.

 

His blonde hair swooped against his forehead, his blinding smile made whiter by tan skin and deeply-set brown eyes. He tossed his head briefly, his hair lifting before resettling exactly where it had been and Rey studied his eyes as she extended a hand.

 

“I’m Rey,” she smiled.

 

_Him?_

 

“Looks like Poe wore you out on the dance floor,” he said, shaking her hand, his bright teeth reflecting the lights with a twinkle, pulling Rey from her observation of his eyes. “Want to come get some food with me?”

 

“Yes, please,” she enthused, hopping up from the couch with a pat to Rose’s knee before leading the way to the kitchen.

 

“So, it’s nice to meet you,” Jack said. “You’re Finn’s sister? Is that right?”

 

“Yeah, how did you know?”

 

“I’m from Poe’s precinct. Soon as he started dating your brother, we all checked him out. It’s a cop thing, ya know,” he said, puffing his chest slightly, “gotta keep each other safe.”

 

“Ah."

 

“I recognized you. From pictures.”

 

“Oh. Cool,” she nodded.

 

Rey scooped a load of spinach dip onto a chip and devoured it as an awkward silence descended. She stole a glance at him while she tossed a few more chips onto a plate and watched as he poured himself a drink.

 

Jack was stocky, sweating a bit through his button-down maybe but, he smelled nice enough, and had ironed his tucked-in shirt. His hair was buzzed shorter in the back, the lengthier hair on top stubbornly hanging against his forehead no matter how often he tossed it aside absently, and _oh my God,_ his phone was clipped to his belt.

 

_Him?!_

 

This guy could have eyes deeper than the San Andreas fault line, darker than pure pitch and it wouldn’t do much for Rey.

 

Her mind drifted as her eyes wandered, even as she nodded and crunched her chips while Jack chatted.

 

 _Couple. Paige. Couple. Finn. Couple. Couple. Blue-eyes. Rose. Brown-eyes but, ew -_ no. _Couple._

 

Clearly, her soulmate wasn’t here.

 

_How long should I stay?_

 

“Ben!”

 

Rey’s head jerked towards Poe’s booming voice as it commanded attention, the cluster of people around him breaking up as he strode towards the approaching man.

She watched as the two men embraced, unable to see much for all the people between them, thinking only how tall the dark-haired stranger must be to need to bend for Poe’s hug. She tore her eyes away as Jack asked her a question.

 

“Did you see that movie? Jurassic World?”

 

“Uh…” she stalled, tuning into the conversation after ignoring for the last several minutes. “Um, I don’t know. I, uh…”

 

She craned her neck to see, standing on tiptoes slightly to peer past the rambling group of people between herself and the living room where Poe was.

 

“Oh, well, let me tell you about it. It starts out…” Jack began, before Rey nodded an assent and went back to ignoring him.

 

_Damn it._

Irritation rose as she peeked around bodies to see Poe had disappeared along with the stranger.

 

Her breath caught as Poe came around the corner into the kitchen with the tall man, _Ben,_ whose deep brown eyes caught Rey’s in an instant. Her heart hammered against her ribs, her lips parting as she lifted her face as he came closer. When he smiled down at her, her thighs dissolved.

 

Every word eluded her but one, and her heart cheered hopefully.

 

_Him?_

 

“So, I mean, you’d know if you’d seen it,” Jack was saying. “Rey. So do you think you’ve seen it? The movie?”

 

“Hmm?” she asked, her eyes still glued to the man’s face who stood smirking at her, Poe’s friend, _Ben,_ the tall one, the one with those brown eyes, the one looking at her like _that._

 

“You think you’ve seen the movie? Or do you maybe want to go some time?”

 

“I…I…”

 

“Jack,” Poe said, an arm around his co-worker’s shoulder. “Hey, man. Been looking for you. C’mon. I wanna show you my bullet collection.”

 

“Bullets?” she heard Jack say as Poe led him away.

 

Rey stood frozen while her blood surged and her hands turned icy, her cheeks burning up under Ben’s intensity.

 

“Hi,” she blurted, unable to wait another second to figure this out. “I’m Rey.”

 

_Had he come closer? Was she moving backwards?_

 

“Nice to meet you,” he said, a deep voice that reverberated inside her chest.

 

“And you’re Ben,” she said before she could stop herself. “I know. I heard. We all heard. Poe, he’s…loud.”

 

Her flaming cheeks ran even hotter, and she turned her back to him, widening her eyes in embarrassment, bringing the back of her hand to her hot cheek.

 

 _God, Jackson._ _Get it the fuck together_.

 

She sipped her beer and turned around again, only to find Ben a step closer. He was definitely crowding her and she couldn’t be bothered to do more than love it. His dark eyes were flecked with green and her heart rolled over in her chest as she took in the soft lines of his lips, his dark hair, his alabaster skin.

 

She’d never considered if she had a type but, that may be because she’d never seen him before, she realized.

 

“He _is_ loud,” Ben chuckled. “Always has been. But, I was coming over to meet you anyway. I wanted to as soon as I saw you. I just didn’t want to interrupt you and your boyfriend.”

 

“Who? Jack? He’s not my boyfriend!” she nearly shouted, inciting a renewed smirk from him.

 

He took another step towards her, and Rey lifted her face further to search his beautiful eyes.

 

“No?”

 

She shook her head and searched for her voice.

 

“Is you boyfriend here? Or…”

 

“No. No boyfriend.”

 

_God, so handsome._

_Please be him. Please be him. Please be him._

 

“I mean, I do have a soulmate but, I,” she trailed off, wondering how to define what she’d experienced without making herself appear unwanted. “He’s not here.”

 

“Oh?”

 

“Well, I mean, he’s not here yet. That I know of. I mean, he’s not here right now. Tonight. I don’t think.”

 

“You don’t think,” Ben repeated, sounding amused, crossing his arms across his chest.

 

 _No fair,_ she thought, taking in his massive biceps where they struggled against his sleeves.

 

“But, you don’t know for sure?”

 

“I mean, I’m still trying to figure it out.”

 

Reaching out, his fingers touched the end of her hair where it lay against her shoulder, rubbing the lock between his fingers while he watched. His eyes met hers as he spoke.

 

“So, you don’t know who your soulmate is?”

 

“I don’t know who my soulmate is. Yet. I don’t know _yet,_ ” she emphasized.

 

“And some bastard is just letting you run around without him,” he murmured as he caressed her hair, moving closer, only a foot remaining between them.

 

Her breasts strained towards him as her back traitorously arched.

 

“I’m not running around,” she corrected. “And I don’t need someone to _let_ me do anything.”

 

He dropped her hair and bit his bottom lip, pushing his hands into his pockets as he considered her with a sly smile.

 

“I’ll just bet you don’t. But, still. Some guy out there is a fucking idiot for letting you get away.”

 

“How do you know it’s a guy?”

 

His eyes shot up and he grinned with surprise.

 

“Well, now! You’re so right. So, you’re a lesbian, then?”

 

“No, but, I could be.”

 

“Still deciding?”

 

“No! I mean, you know that’s not how it works, of course not!”

 

His smirk was gorgeous, and he was starting to piss her off.

The combination heated her blood and lit her face animatedly.

 

“Hey, no judgement.”

 

“I’m not,” she huffed, frustratedly, “I’m not finding myself or figuring myself out or anything. I’m just looking for him. And I’ll find him I just…haven’t. Yet.”

 

“You’re looking for him?”

 

His smile waned as he narrowed his eyes slightly.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“I ran an ad. In the paper. Under Missed Connections. And on Craigslist. And as soon as he finds it I’m sure he’s going to sweep me off my feet and everything will be perfect,” she said with more immaturity than she’d intended.

 

She sounded like a spoiled princess even to her own ears, and she couldn’t figure out how this was where the conversation landed.

She wanted this guy’s mouth on hers. She wanted his big hands on her body. She’d been getting off alone so long and it looked like this was a man who knew what the fuck to do with her body and soulmate or no, she was up for giving it a go but, he was fraying her nerves with his game of 20 Questions.

 

“You ran an ad."

Rey watched his face while his eyes pinched shut, waiting for him to open them again.

 

“Yeah,” she admitted, more nervously this time. “Probably sounds stupid to you.”

 

“No,” he said, firmly. His eyes met hers, lit with ferocity. “It sounds like a really smart move, actually. Something someone with half a fucking brain would do if they thought about it hard enough.”

 

“Okay,” she said warily.

 

_Was that a compliment or an insult?_

 

“Sorry,” he said. “I’m…you’re just so beautiful.”

 

She stared back at him as his eyes softened and he lifted a hand to run a line against her jaw.

 

“I think you’ve got to be the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.”

 

She didn’t even try to resist when her face leaned into his hand.

 

“You do?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“And do you have a soulmate or…”

 

His hand froze when she spoke and she immediately wished she’d kept her big mouth shut.

 

He smiled a little, just a hint and leaned closer.

 

“I’m waiting for my girl.”

 

“Waiting…”

 

“Till I find her.”

 

“Find her.”

 

“And make her mine.”

 

“Yours.”

 

“Rey, close your eyes,” he said very quietly.

 

Her eyes slid shut, under his spell as he came closer. Her hands tightened against the kitchen countertop behind her as she braced and his fingers traced her jaw until they came to the back of her neck. Her senses sharpened as she breathed tightly, and she felt her stomach bottom out the moment his lips met the tip of her nose. He left a gentle kiss, just a feather-light whisper of his lips there before descending to her jaw, her cheeks, her forehead.

Finally, her lips were crushed as he brushed his mouth against hers soundly, taking his fill and leaving her breathless.

 

When her eyes opened, Paige was standing behind Ben, her jaw dropped open and Rey blearily registered the scene from her perspective as Ben came back into focus.

 

His eyes locked onto hers as he took a step backwards and Paige came up to stand beside him.

 

“Rey, ummm…” Paige began.

 

“Paige, this is Ben,” she said, introducing them as she cleared her voice. “Paige is my roommate.”

 

They shook hands and exchanged greetings while Paige shot Rey a queering look, obviously needful of answers.

 

“We better get going,” Paige said, taking Rey by the elbow. “Gotta head back to Brooklyn. Getting late.”

 

“But, it’s only 10:30…” Rey argued as Paige tugged her towards the living room.

Rey shot Ben a look over her shoulder, seeking his eyes, his lips redder from kissing, his hands inside his pockets again. He stayed still, watching her move and winked before she turned to move more helpfully towards the door.

 

Her stomach responded in a cascade of butterflies and, she grinned as she found his eyes one last time before Paige shoved her out the door and from his view.

Sighing, she dreamily exhaled as they descended the staircase, Paige nudging her arm while Rose joined them.

 

“What’s going on? Why are we leaving?” she asked.

 

“Rey’s making out with some _guy_ in there and she hasn’t met her soulmate!” Paige hissed. “Look at her! We gotta get outta here ASAP!”

 

“You were making out with some guy? Instead of your soulmate?!” Rose cried.

 

“I don’t even feel bad, you guys,” Rey announced blissfully, still entranced. “I do not feel bad at all.”

 

“Oh, for god’s sake,” Paige intoned. “You’d think she’d never been heartstruck.”

 

“I don’t know what to tell you. But, I swear, no bee sting on earth could compare with that kiss.”

 

“Tell it to your soulmate, Juliet.”

  
_Maybe not,_ Rey thought, _but, I sure won’t be needing google in my bed tonight._

 

__

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...and this is me.


	4. Local News

 

 

_Ben_

 

“So, what happened, man? Why didn’t you tell her? Ya chicken out?”

 

Ben smirked around a mouthful of scrambled eggs and sent a glare to Poe across the booth as he swallowed a mouthful of coffee before answering.

 

“I did _not_ chicken out. Look,” he said, pushing back to lean against the plastic booth cushion, pulling a hand through his dark hair. “You’re dating her brother, right? Which means maybe I could have seen her and just decided I liked her and pulled a fast one on her. She doesn’t know me from Adam. Suppose she tells me, ‘ _hey, my soulmate never showed’_ and I just conveniently announce, _‘well, hey, ya know what sweetheart, guess what - it’s me! I’m him!’_ like I’m God’s gift to soulmarks. I could come off looking like a class A jerk.”

 

“Didn’t look like she was about to kick ya to the curb, to me,” Poe cocked his head while he studied his pork chop and kept chewing.

 

Ben stabbed at his eggs, worried he’d made the wrong call.

Maybe he should’ve just been direct. Poe’s right, he should have just fucking told her, romantic or not, whether she’d have believed him or not. He should have just laid claim and taken her by the shoulders and gone all John Wayne on her.

 

 _“You’re comin’ with me, little lady,”_ he could have mandated.

 

Perhaps he wouldn’t have had to go back to Leia’s after Rey left Poe’s last night to jerk off his painful erection in the shower thinking about that goddamn searing kiss she’d let him take. Maybe he could have slept. Maybe he wouldn’t be in this lousy diner with Poe having these lousy eggs at fucking six o’clock on a Saturday morning if he’d just told her last night.

 

 _Calm down, Solo._   _Down, boy._

 

Last night it was too good just enjoying the blush creeping up her neck while he toyed with her a little.

Her perky, sweet tits reaching for him under her wide, hopeful eyes. The way she gazed up at him with a look he could imagine might become adoration one day. It was too delicious to watch her squirm a little, feel her breath hitch when he touched her chin, feel some ancient beast crow in victory when he told her to close her eyes…and she obeyed.

And those lips of hers, those goddamn cherry-red, deliciously plump lips of hers. If he’d waited another minute to taste them he’d have told her everything but, he wanted to see if he could get her to melt into him, even before.

 

She was the most precious, enticing thing he’d ever seen and she was _meant for him_ but, it was terrifying to feel himself unworthy of her. Meeting her only made him see it more.

 

If he could win her fair and square, before biology or chemistry or magic or psychology or anything else forced her hand then maybe he wouldn’t end up like his dad. Maybe he could hold it close to his chest all his days, that she wanted him - _Ben,_ at his most basic, elementary makeup - not just some cosmic connection.

Maybe then, if he earned that first, he wouldn’t wind up telling his own son that soulmates weren’t all they were cracked up to be, to hold the good times close and know when to cut your losses.

 

Maybe he could trust it, this soulmate thing, if he saw she wanted him like he wanted her.

 

If she needed him, back.

 

No, he _couldn’t_ have told her last night. It had to happen this way, first.

 

“I need it to not be like my parents, Poe. I need her to know I wanted her from that first moment and I am going to keep on wanting her until the end. And, _fuck it,_ Poe, I want her to want me back, goddamn it. I don’t want to spend my life wondering if she’d rather have someone else. Not just because of some universal, chemical synergy but, because we connect.”

 

Poe shrugged as he dug through his hashbrowns.

 

“Universe has already determined that’s the case, dumbass.”

 

“Yeah well, the universe determines it for a lot of people and it doesn’t always end so pretty.”

 

“Fair enough,” Poe shrugged. “So. What now, loverboy?”

 

“First off, don’t call me loverboy, jackass. And second, I have a plan, don’t worry.”

 

“You’d better, asshole,” Poe warned, waving a finger at his face. “That could be my future sister-in-law whose chain you’re yanking.”

 

“Shut up,” Ben smirked, tossing his napkin across the table at Poe’s chest.

 

“Assaulting an officer,” Poe countered, throwing it back. “Do me a favor, pay the bill, dickwad. I gotta take a piss.”

 

“Poe - “ Ben growled as Poe hopped out of the booth and took off towards the restroom.

 

Paying the bill put him two steps from a fresh stack of newspapers though, so Ben had one tucked under his arm, hot off the presses by the time Poe jogged up from the rear of the restaurant. Ben’s car purred to life as he sped towards Poe’s and climbed the stairs to make himself a leisurely second cup of coffee, with a newspaper to peruse on his lap.

 

_Most beautiful girl on Earth and smart, too._

He smiled to himself as he studied the Missed Connections ad.

 

_We were on the R line at the Union Street station platform when the spark hit. The crowd drove us apart but my green eyes turned hazel._

_Where are you, soulmate? Come find me._

_heartstruck_woman@gmail.com_

 

It had never occurred to him to take out an ad, let alone search them and here she was, patient and brilliant, while he’d taken out his frustrations on a speedbag and moped around Boston for a month. Shaking his head at his own incompetence, he pulled out his phone and composed an email to his girl.

He plunked out a message with certainty and sent it off while he studied her ad again, letting his fingers trace the words.

 

Goddamn, this shouldn’t be fun.

 _I am going to hell for enjoying this_.

 

_Dear heartstruck_woman,_

_I was on the R line that Wednesday afternoon and that spark knocked me off my feet. I landed on my ass when the doors closed and I never felt more regret than seeing you on the platform, looking around while the train took off with me still inside. I got back there as fast as possible but, you were gone, which I figured would happen, it was all my fault. I rode that train at the same time every day for the next four days before leaving town (I was visiting from out of town) but, never found you again. I’d love to meet you for real this time._

_heartstruck_man_

 

Ben closed the paper and stepped through the kitchen to the small back deck, watching the sunrise over the buildings. A lazy New York Saturday morning was breaking and he shivered before stepping inside again. He dropped the coffee cup in the sink, hollering a goodbye to Poe as he left and took the newspaper with him to the car. By the time he got to Leia’s, an email was waiting.

 

His girl had written back.

His heartstruck girl.

His soulmate.

Rey.

 

He grinned too broadly as he sat in his quiet car and opened the email, too anxious to wait until he got inside to devour it.

 

_Dear heartstruck_man,_

_oh God, I can’t believe it’s you! It_ was _a Wednesday and I had left work early after an embarrassing incident with my boss! That’s why I wasn’t on the train at that time for days following! Oh my God, and you live out of town? What if we’d never met? What if I hadn’t been on the train early that day? This is overwhelming. I can’t believe this email would come this morning after my evening last night when I thought maybe I was all wrong about the spark. When can we see one another? You think this is real, too?_

_heartstruck_woman_

 

This was too good to be true. His beautiful, sweet, perfect girl was conflicted and it broke his heart but, he was determined not to leave her feeling lost any longer. Last night was his last spent laying alone in bed, he’d decided, thinking of his soulmate while he struggled for sleep that wouldn't come. 

He pocketed his phone and bounded into the building while he grinned at the doorman.

 

“Mr. Solo,” he greeted Ben, holding the glass door wide.

 

“Mr. Tekka,” Ben patted his shoulder with a smile and jogged to the elevators.

 

When he breezed inside his mother’s apartment, he kissed her cheek with surprisingly positive energy, leaving Leia bewildered in her bathrobe, her eyebrows sky-high.

 

“What the hell’s gotten into you?”

 

“Something good, Mom. Something really just way too good.”

 

“What? What’s happening? What the hell’s going on? What am I missing? Ben? _Ben!”_

 

She shouted after him, but Ben slammed the door to his suite as he shucked his clothes, changing into shorts for a run.

 

He had way too much adrenaline pumping and way too much testosterone mucking up his brain to engage anyone right now. One more email and he would leave his phone behind while he ran off some steam.

 

_Dear heartstruck_woman,_

_It’s real. It’s the most real thing that’s ever happened to me and I want to see you. I_ need _to see you again. I’m here in NYC now. Can I see you tomorrow? Or today, if you’ll let me, maybe? What happened to you last night? You thought this wasn’t real? Let me prove it is? Please, my soulmate, my girl. Let me find you and make you mine. Last night was the best night of my life but, today is possibly even better._

_heartstruck_man_

 

Ben tossed the phone onto his bed and ran his hands through his hair as he headed for the stairs, a bounce in his step as the bracing air met him. It was the first day of the rest of his life and he was beyond ready.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...this is my brain judging me for round-the-clock typing  & posting without a beta.
> 
> ...and this is me.


	5. Puzzles and Comics

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> beautiful new moodboard by my sweet, talented friend [@SageMcMae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SageMcMae/pseuds/SageMcMae) whose fics you should check out here on AO3.
> 
> You guys are _making_ me write this, I hope you understand that.

 

_Rey_

 

_“Paige! Rose!”_

 

Considering how early she was screaming on a Saturday morning, it made sense when both her roommates came stumbling into the kitchen where she stood, stiffly gaping at her phone.

 

“What? Oh my God! What’s with the yelling?”

 

“What’s going on?”

 

“The-the-the…the email…the ad…it’s the ad from the email with the soulmate! I mean…wait….it’s an email from the ad! _Fuck_ \- I mean…it’s an _email_ from my _soulmate!_ From the ad!”

Hands quaking, she shoved the phone towards them, pointing insistently to the email for them to inspect.

 

Rose pushed her glasses further up the bridge of her nose while she warily inspected the email and Paige stood looking over her shoulder.

 

“Oh my stars,” Paige said reverently as Rose removed her glasses and lowered the phone. Slow smiles spread over their faces as understanding dawned.

 

Rey’s eyes lit up as she saw approval in their gaze, the sisters looking at one another before nodding at Rey.

 

“It’s him,” Rose said. “I’ll bet it’s him.”

 

“Finally,” Paige whined, moving towards the coffeemaker. “Took him long enough.”

 

“It’s only been a month,” Rose countered.

 

“Have you ever heard of a soulmate taking a month to find their partner after the spark hit?”

 

All three shook their heads at one another.

It was certainly uncommon but, Rey had researched it plenty in the last 33 days. There were extenuating circumstances where soulmates had sparked a connection only to be separated before they could identify one another but, it was fairly rare and it virtually never took this long to reconnect.

She scooped her phone to her chest happily as she tightened her robe, winding her hair into a knot before straightening her own glasses. Spying the greased cookie sheet still sitting unused atop the oven, her mind rewound to the night before.

 

_The party._

_Ben._

_That kiss._

 

She’d ridden home inside the Uber between her roommates, her feelings a knotted mass of confusion as she sorted them.

Was it wrong to be so utterly attracted to Ben? Was it wrong to want him so badly? To kiss him? Was it possible the spark hadn’t even worked? Maybe she had felt an _actual_ bee and not the spark so, maybe she could date Ben? What would her soulmate think, if he was real, though? And hadn’t her eye color changed? Would she want him kissing another girl after the spark hit?

 

By the time they’d arrived at the brownstone, Rey felt more guilt than bliss and she trudged up the stairs trying desperately to put the beautiful man from her mind. When she closed her eyes to sleep, he was there waiting, touching her, looking at her with those sinfully dark eyes, telling her she was his girl, he would find her and make her his.

God forgive her, when she came on her fingers, it was Ben’s name she gasped and moaned.

 

She huffed her irritation into her pillow, annoyed by her unfaithful heart and overdue soulmate. Pouting, she’d kicked at the covers fitfully while she waited for sleep to overtake her.

When she’d woken at first light, unable to disengage her internal clock despite her lazy Saturday plans, Ben was the first image her brain offered and she’d smiled conspiratorially at the memory of his kisses as she shuffled to the kitchen.

Her fingertips trailed her lips at the memory of his heated mouth, plush lips crushing hers before he licked at the seam, the lowest murmur of a groan escaping his lips as she tried to levitate. If only she could get closer. If only she'd had another moment, she could have pulled him more tightly, wrapped herself around him, made him kiss her some more.

She’d shaken the memory free as soon as the first email appeared and now she dropped the pan into the sink.

Last night was over and it was a new day.

 

Of _course_ it was the spark that day on the train, and _definitely_ she wanted to connect with her actual soulmate, Ben the Kissing Bandit having kissed the fire out of her last night or not.

If the universe had deemed _heartstruck_man@gmail.com_ her soulmate, Rey wasn’t about to argue.

 

 _Bring it on_. _My body is ready._

 

Trembling, she returned the email and curled up on the couch, excited to think somewhere out there, her soulmate was reading her words.

He had looked for her, he’d said. She wasn’t abandoned. He hadn’t married someone else or become a man of the cloth. He’d come for her and spent day after day retracing her steps, hoping to find her again.

Ben had only kissed her one night, after all, and her soulmate had been pining for her over a month already.

 

 _Stop thinking about Ben_. _That’s over now. This is about your soulmate, let it go._

 

 _ <Good luck,> _ whispered the smallest voice.

 

Her phone chimed in her lap as Rose and Paige looked at her immediately, and she fumbled at the buttons.

 

She gasped as her eyes flew across the words, her mind racing as she processed his next email.

 

“He wants to see me,” she announced. “He’s here in the city! He called me… _oh God,”_ she took a deep breath, her excitement making her throat dry, ”he called me his girl, you guys and…”

 

The next words stuck in her throat as her eyes snagged on her soulmate’s choice of verbiage.

 

_“…my girl. Let me find you and make you mine. Last night was the best night of my life…”_

 

“What? What else did he say?” Rose prodded.

 

“Rey?” Paige prompted.

 

Rey’s mind retraced her conversation from the night before. Just before Ben had kissed her.

 

The party.

The kitchen.

She’d asked Ben if he had a soulmate.

 

_“I’m waiting for my girl…Till I find her…And make her mine.”_

 

That’s what Ben had said.

 

Was it possible it was coincidence?  Was it hot all of a sudden or was her robe too tight?

She leapt from the couch and threw the robe down as if it were a snake, then tossed the phone at Paige as if it had bitten her, too.

 

“Look,” she demanded. “At the thing with the - the email with the words and the waiting and the... just… _look,”_ she pleaded.

 

_Please be him. Please be him. Please be him._

_ <Let it go. Let it go.> _

_Please be him._

_Please._

 

Pacing in boyshorts and a tank top, flustered and sweaty despite the chill in the air, she wrung her hands waiting for the sisters to finish reading.

 

“Aw,” Rose murmured. “He’s so sweet, Rey.”

 

“He is,” Paige cooed, “it’s like he was made for you, sweetie.”

 

“I think,” she began, knowing she would sound a bit crazy if she allowed her suspicions to escape her brain. Her roommates would think it wishful thinking, she could imagine the sympathetic doubt in their eyes and she couldn’t bear it. “I think I have to write him back.”

 

“You sure do!”

 

“Hell yeah, you do. Right now!”

 

“No, she should wait.”

 

 _“Wait?_ What for? She’s been waiting a whole freaking month already!”

 

“She doesn’t want to look too desperate.”

 

“She’s his soulmate for God’s sake, it’s not desperate it’s fucking _destiny!_ She should write back now!”

 

“All I’m saying is, if it’s him she’s got the rest of her life to be with him and it wouldn’t hurt him to have to work for it a little. Woo her.”

 

Rey tucked her arms around herself, the cool autumn morning sinking into her bones deeper as she pulled her arms into her robe again.

 

“And all _I’m_ saying is, if it’s her soulmate, she shouldn’t have to worry, he’ll always be into her.”

 

“I think I’m gonna get a shower first,” Rey interrupted, as she turned for her room.

 

“K,” Paige agreed. “My point is," she turned to her sister, "this is the last time she’s ever going to be able to experience the firsts. First date, first kiss, first time, first everything so, she should take her time and enjoy it."

 

“And _my_ point is, nothing will compare to a soulmate so why waste time?” 

They were still debating when Rey shut her door tightly and crossed the room to snuggle beneath her duvet and reread her soulmate’s email.

 

_His girl._

_Her man had called her his girl._

 

Her eyes caressed the words as if they were his skin.

 

She wasted no time in responding. It had less to do with strategy and more to do with desperation, her longing to have her wish confirmed and her fears eased.

_It had to be Ben. Didn’t it?_

 

She hesitated at the last moment, knowing this could be the end of her fantasy if he responded in a way that dashed her hopes but, she thought of Ben, his scorching, dark eyes flecked with green, his playful laugh, his low grumble of pleasure against her lips and she sent the email before she could second-guess.

 

_Dear heartstruck_man,_

_I agree. It_ is _real, what’s between us. As real as what I felt last night that almost made me doubt the spark, the kiss I shared with a man at a party. He nearly stole my heart but, only my soulmate could truly claim that. Only my soulmate could find me and make me his girl. Only my soulmate knows how we touched and where we were when the spark hit. Only he could captivate me like this, send me to heaven with a wink, touch me until I tremble, bring me to climax with the memory of his lips. And you are in NYC now, really? Can you meet today? Are you too tired? You said you had the best night of your life last night, why? Do you think today can compare?_ _Will you hurry? I can’t wait anymore. Tell me where you are and let me see you._

_We belong together,_

_heartstruck_woman_

 

 _That was too much. Was that too much?_ she worried.

 

Her teeth chattered as her nerves frayed, and she threw the phone onto the pillows as her hands shook. She tore off her clothes eagerly as she scrubbed herself raw beneath the spray, taking extra care to primp and scour head-to-toe. Lotioned and dry, she entered her bedroom and twisted her damp hair into a towel, and her heart cried in relief as his newest email greeted her.

 

_Dear heartstruck_woman,_

_I’ll come to you. I’ll take the train and though I probably won’t overhear anyone’s story about seeing their boss standing in a bathroom, I’ll smile to myself remembering how I heard you tell that story on the train. I’ll carry a newspaper, though I won’t need one to know you, since your green eyes are now hazel, and besides, I think I’d know you anywhere, my sweet girl. And, I’ll be on my best behavior. Last night I saw the most beautiful girl I’d ever laid eyes on. I could never stay away from her now. I’m fully caffeinated and haven’t slept a wink, I’ve thought of nothing but finding my soulmate. I’ll be on the train platform where we touched in two hours._

_I’m already yours,_

_heartstruck_man_

 

_“Paige! Rose! Get in here!”_

She would probably give them each a migraine with her early-morning freak-out but, this was a Code Red emergency and all hands were needed on deck.

 

Her eyes squeezed tightly, she thanked God and the angels for never answering her prayers before, for sending her a scary childhood, a meager adolescence, a threadbare family and an unknown heritage. She gripped her hands together tightly as she blinked at her ceiling, whispering gratitude for every past hope denied, every single wish she’d ever had finally granted with this singular, superior gift.

 

Rey had a soulmate and she finally knew who he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...my brain, judging me.
> 
> ...me, ignoring my brain and posting again anyway.


	6. Business

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> shoutout to [@ernzo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ernzo/pseuds/Ernzo) who coined a phrase she'll recognize when she reads it in this chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter is titled "The Fuckening." J/K, it's called _"Entertainment"_ but, it may as well be called "The Fuckening."  
>  Don't read Chapter 7 if you _don't_ wanna read smut.  
>  If you _do_ want the smut, I'll see you in Chapter 7, and also P.S. you are my people and also P.S. please sit by me at wedding receptions, parties, and movie screenings.

 

_Ben_

 

Taking the train was presumptuous, he knew that.

 

He could’ve driven his car, hailed a taxi or hired an Uber but, Ben’s confidence grew with each keystroke and before he knew it, he’d offered to meet her at the scene of the crime.

Bringing his car could have made him appear transient, and he planned on proving his permanence. The train was familiar, strong, dependable, all the things he intended to be for his girl.

 

He never wanted to see that lost look on her sweet face again.

Hopefully, this was the last time he rode this train alone instead of having her within arm’s reach.

 

He grinned a giddy smirk at his reflection in the mirror as he wiped the steam with a forearm, his wet hair dripping onto bare shoulders. Scrubbing his hair dry with the towel he tugged from his waist, he imagined her wild-eyed, breathless self waiting at the platform, and he pushed himself into hyperdrive as he moved through his routine.

A spritz of cologne to the chest, a hefty swipe of deodorant, plenty of mousse for his hair, and he was gone.

 

“Don’t wait up,” he winked at his mother as he grabbed his keys and jacket from the entryway.

 

“Don’t wait up… _what the_ …it’s 10 o’clock in the morning! _Benjamin!”_ Leia called.

 

“Text you later!” he called, shoveling a bagel into his mouth as the apartment door slammed behind him.

 

There was time enough to smile at strangers on the sidewalk, fellow New Yorkers who avoided his gaze politely or glared at his outright defiance of city-dweller unspoken culture. His arms swung amiably as he sauntered through the farmer’s market, choosing the brightest bouquet available.

The clerk eyed him suspiciously as Ben chuckled out loud, watching as the flowers were wrapped in newsprint.

 

 _Perfect._  

 

His heart skipped merrily all the way to the station, and he checked his email while he waited for the train, juggling the newspaper and fresh blooms.

 

_Dear heartstruck_man,_

_I’ll be there and I will bring only my hopeful heart, the one you’ve stolen already._

_heartstruck_woman_

 

 _Oh yeah._ _She’s into me._

 

He walked briskly with a cocky grin, chest expanding proudly. The train smelled cleaner, the sky was bluer, and everything was better.

 

_Life is good and I am one lucky son of a bitch._

 

Panic teased him as he sat down, once the train collected its passengers.

Ben wasn’t used to feeling lucky.

He wasn’t unaccustomed to feeling the universe pulling for him, new to _winning._ As long as he could recall he’d been runner-up, second-best, silver medalist.

 

The realization he was poised to have the best thing in his life fall into his waiting hands was staggering. This fragile creature would trust him, and he had such a knack for fucking up, breaking things, blowing it.

 

_Dear God in heaven, don’t let me ‘Ben Solo it up.'_

 

He was getting a second chance at a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and he ground his jaw and swallowed hard, tightening his fist around the bunch of flowers in his hand, determined to nail it.  

 

The train slowed as the announcement signaled their arrival and his eyes scanned the platform as he stepped securely off the train. No one would keep him from his goal this time. With laser-beam focus he surveyed the crowd, couples and young families with children in strollers stepping past him as he peered around.

 

The press of the crowd thinned as people scattered and _there._

 

There she was.

 

_His girl._

 

His heart beat hard for her as he gulped down his nerves, striding towards her from behind. She craned on tiptoes past the lingering people, and he smirked to see her small feet in combat boots giving her no height advantage at all. He drank in the sight of her as he approached.

Her hair was free around her shoulders.

Her hands were laced beneath her chin, her arms drawn tight against her chest as she oscillated, looking side-to-side, biting her bottom lip as she watched the train begin to depart.

 

His girl was so lovely, fucking _beautiful._

 

Those slim legs in tight, little leggings were supposed to be wrapped around him.

Somewhere beneath that cardigan was a sweet, little ass he wanted his hands on.

A flash of silver winked at him as her earring caught the light, and Ben had enough stalling.

 

She never turned to see his approach from behind her, and she jumped slightly when his broad hands gripped her biceps. He leaned close and said her name.

 

“Rey.”

 

She melted against him as her breath caught.

 

Holding her tightly, his hands trailed her arms until he cradled her elbows, moving to slide down her forearms until he caught her wrists in his grip. He drew her arms around her waist until he was wrapped around her, enveloping his whole world inside his arms for the first time and he exhaled a breath he’d held his whole life into her hair.

 

“I knew it was you,” she said, a cry in her voice as he pulled her back against his chest.

 

His lips pressed at her neck as her pulse jumped beneath his lips, his gaze falling to her breasts as they heaved above his arms. His fingers laced with hers as her head fell back to his shoulder and he watched a tear slide from the corner of her eye when they closed.

 

“I should have pushed through the crowd the first day,” he growled, his voice broken with the tension he’d buried. “I should have shoved every fucking person aside who stood between us.”

 

He kissed her neck again as he tightened his arms and squeezed her fingers between his.

 

“I should have thrown that blonde asshole out the window for being near you. I should have stepped between you two and told you who I was right then, why I was even there at all.”

 

Her chest swelled as she gasped back a quiet sob, turning her face to his, like the clouds parting and the sun shining on him. Her eyes were still closed when he curved around her shoulder to capture her lips, bruising them with his own.

 

“I should have never let you leave last night. I should have stopped you. I should have gone with you. I’m not supposed to be away from you. Rey, I’m yours.”

 

She turned in his arms and gave him all he wanted.

Her mouth opened against his as he lifted her in his arms, her body curling around his where they stood.

 

One hand in her hair, he held her tightly against himself with the other while she whispered his name against his mouth.

 

_“Ben, Ben.”_

 

“I’ve got you now.” 

 

Kissing girls was a pastime he’d grown accustomed to in college, but kissing _his_ girl was something else altogether.

Kissing Rey was otherworldly, a trip to outer space at lightspeed, a breathtaking, disorienting flight.

 

It brought him to life and rendered him useless.

 

He dipped his tongue inside her mouth to drink her honeyed goodness, more fragrant than the bouquet of flowers they stood crushing, more intoxicating than wine. When he paused to see her eyes, he smiled up at her in his arms, seated at his waist with a glowing smile on her face.

 

She covered him in kisses, cradling his head in her slim hands as he closed his eyes and enjoyed, feeling her sweet anointing against his skin.

 

“I can’t believe it’s you. It had to be you. I _knew_ it was you,” she insisted between kisses.

 

“I didn’t know how to find you,” he said as he opened his eyes, amazed she was in his arms, fitted against him so perfectly. His cock strained against his jeans beneath her ass as her heels dug into the small of his back, and he leaned forward to find her mouth again.

 

“You did, though. You did,” she nearly cried as she buried her face in his shoulder. It was his turn to cover her head with kisses and he relished it.

 

“I was going out of my _mind_ needing to find you. Was going crazy needing you, baby.”

 

“And you’re really my soulmate? You felt it, didn’t you? That day on the train? You felt the spark?”

 

He smirked against her lips as he kissed her soundly.

 

“I don’t who was more embarrassed that day, you walking in on your boss or me landing on my ass before I could follow you off the train.mI couldn’t believe how lucky I was to have found you and have seen how beautiful you were, how amazing. And then I just lost you like a fucking moron, like a stupid…” 

 

“Shhh,” she hushed him with a kiss and a head shake of disagreement.

 

“We’re together now.”

 

“I’m not losing you again.” 

 

“Come home with me,” she murmured against his lips, sliding to the ground and reaching for his collar to pull him down to kiss her again.

 

“Mmm,” he moaned as she pressed against him, chest-to-chest, their bodies aligning in the most delicious way.

 

“I got rid of my roommates. Told them get lost. Have all day. And night. Till tomorrow. At least. Come home. With me. Ben. Please.”

 

Her words took turns with her kisses as her mouth left him senseless until he was reduced to nodding in agreement.

 

“Fuck, sweetness, anything. Anything you want. Forever. Anything.”

 

“You. I want you, Ben, I want _you.”_

 

People likely stared as he carelessly tossed the forgotten bunch of flowers and ragged Saturday newspaper on the bench beside them where he stood kissing his girl but, Ben never knew if anyone even noticed them.

 

He had everything he needed now, and she was right here in his arms.

Finally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...this is my brain, giving up on influencing me
> 
> ...and this is me, telling my brain to get a grip.


	7. Entertainment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sweet @Sage McMae made this art and she is a gem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
> 

 

 

_Rey_

  
  


The walk to her brownstone which normally took Rey twelve minutes stretched past the 30-minute mark by the time they reached her home.

It was most delicious, and possibly also the lengthiest trip home from the train station she’d ever made.

 

She couldn’t keep her hands off this man, not that she was making much effort.

She made it no further than the first two steps towards the stoop before Ben’s hands twisted her hips until she was facing him again. With the extra height, she wrapped her arms around his wide shoulders and smiled as she easily found his lips.

 

 _A girl could get used to this_.

 

It took a neighbor huffing lightly in annoyance as he squeezed by, and incessant dog barking from a nearby apartment to untangle themselves from one another long enough to make it inside the building.

 

They only stopped twice on the way upstairs to kiss.

 

Her head tilted at an angle to give his mouth access as he swept her hair aside, finding her neck while she unlocked the apartment. Pushing the door open, she dragged him inside by both hands, satisfaction bubbling as he kicked the door closed being him. She had the distinct feeling she’d trapped him, and she delighted in victory.

 

When his hands reached to cradle her face, his mouth taking hers with renewed fervor as the sanctuary of the apartment cocooned them, she moaned as the joy of homecoming surged through her.

 

Her man, her _soulmate_ had come to her, and she’d pulled him into her warm, little nest, safe and cozy.  

 

She’d never felt more secure in her life.

She was about to give him anything he wanted.

 

“You need anything?” she murmured, pausing to look up at him.

 

His thumbs caressed her cheeks as she lost herself in his eyes.

 

“I’ve got everything I need.”

 

She blushed and batted her eyes, a move she would have assumed manufactured in the past but, somehow felt the most natural response. She leaned her cheek into his palm and pressed a kiss inside as she shrugged off her sweater.

 

“C’mere.”

 

She pulled him to the aging turquoise couch, tossing throw pillows aside as she sat and hastily untied her boots. Ben shed his jacket and sat beside her, his hands rubbing at his thighs until Rey leaned back and opened her arms in invitation. When she laid back, he immediately crawled atop and crushed her gently into the cushions, quick to reclaim her lips.

 

His solid frame encased her as his huge hands ran the length of her torso, brushing over her breasts, caressing her waist as he found her bare skin beneath and pushed her shirt higher. She groped hungrily at his shoulders as his tongue plundered her mouth. His thick cock teased at the seam of her leggings, radiating heat between her legs where he lay above her, and she lifted her hips against his.

 

His luscious groans when she repeated the motion, lifting her cunt near him despite the layers of clothes between them made her arch her back off the couch. He drew her hair between his fingers and pulled as his hand came to the back of her head, his lips finding her bare throat.

 

If this was how making out felt with a soulmate, she’d burn up and die having sex with him.

 

It was _unreasonably_ good.

 

His hands were hot and greedy, and Rey wrapped her legs around his calves. She felt his fingers pull at the lace cup of her bra as his hand found her breast and she sighed when his calloused skin grazed hers. The only language they shared for moments were the reverberating moans of her pleasure at his touch and his rejoicing in her response.

 

She hadn’t even planned it when her hands found his hard length, and she ran a hand against him as he froze, his mouth opened against hers. His brow furrowed, she opened her eyes and watched him gulp and squeeze his eyes closed as she ran her fingers up and down his cock, locked behind his jeans. When he gulped she took mercy and leaned up to kiss his lips, proud to have disarmed and distracted her huge, handsome man with only her touch.

 

Her shirt was pulled over her head while Ben watched and kissed her stomach.

 

 _“Jesus,”_ he whispered fervently as he admired her bare breasts.

 

He found her eyes as she ran a hand through his hair. As he lowered his head, he groaned when he took her into his mouth and wrapped his lips around her nipple. He sucked, swirling his tongue around her breast and moaned, holding her securely as she keened and arched off the couch under him.

 

“Ben,” she gasped, somewhere between agony and ecstasy.

 

 _“More,”_ he murmured, moving to the opposite breast.

 

His hands laced with hers as he ground his hips against her pelvis, the friction against her clit dampening her panties inside her leggings embarrassingly. She offered him as much as he wanted, reveling in her ravished state. Cheeks burning, lips blooming, her breathing came sharp and uneven.

Smirking, he paused to assess the panting mess he was causing, and Rey blew her hair from where it had fallen around her face.

 

Ben brushed her hair away, and kissed the tip of her nose as he had the night before and Rey grinned broadly.

 

“Sweet little nose,” he said quietly.

 

“And sweet little ear,” he said as he littered her ear with kisses while she squirmed and giggled, her hands still laced with his, pinned beside her head.

 

“And sweet cheeks,” he said, kissing her face.

 

“Sweet mouth,” he said, his tone becoming solemn as his kiss deepened.

 

“Sweet, beautiful tits,” he said, nuzzling her breasts again, as Rey groaned with a grin at his irreverent, masculine words.

 

“Sweet, little ass,” he said, pressing his hips against hers.

 

“Sweetest woman alive. I swear to God, you are the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen.”

 

Studying one another, she gazed into his eyes and dug deep into her stores of courage.

 

“Are you really mine?”

 

“I’m really, truly yours, Rey. Body and heart and soul. ”  

 

“And I’m really yours?”

 

“I would like to see any bastard alive try to take you from me. See what happens.” 

 

“And this is soulmates so…so, we’re supposed to be together.”

 

“We are meant for each other, sweetness. You and me.”

 

“And that means…for…forever. Right? Forever?”

 

Her eyes flit between his as he leaned back and offered her a hand to sit up. He sank to his knees on the ground beside the couch as she covered her breasts with her arm, shielding herself as she watched him. Leaning towards him, her forehead met his while he spoke. Her eyes slid closed and she listened.

 

“The universe didn’t just randomly decide to pair us up. All the universe did was look down and knew I needed _you,_ my girl, and it sent me a heads’ up but, baby, I would have found you anyway. I would have found you in any world, in any life, at any time.”

 

He rolled his forehead against hers and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her chest against his. Her arms slid around his neck as she found his eyes.

 

“You’re the other half of my soul, Rey. I’m right there in your eyes now, in that beautiful hazel, right there. I belong to you that much.”

 

“That’s why you’re all I see,” she confessed. “No one else, Ben. It’s you.”

 

He kissed her and she pulled him close.

 

When he lifted her, she instinctively wrapped her body around his, and when she gestured towards the hallway, they never parted as he carried her to the bedroom.

 

They tugged at each other’s clothing without separating until they lay entwined with one another in Rey’s bed, naked and happy. His thick, strong cock pressed insistently against her hip until he moved lower to kiss at her pussy. He sucked her lips inside his mouth with a moan until she shook, licking her clit, lapping at the mess he’d made of her while she whined his name and rocked against him.

 

“God, I knew this had to be the sweetest pussy, but, _fuck..._ ”

He interrupted himself to fuck his tongue inside her. His hands roamed her writhing body as he licked inside her, bringing his fingers inside her. She watched as he closed his eyes, tilting his head back as he felt her clench around him.

 

“Ben, please. Come up here. I wanna come around your cock, please.” 

 

“Let me make you mine. Let me fill you up so good.”

 

“Yes, yes, yes,” she gasped breathlessly as he entered her.

 

Overwhelmed at the fullness as he filled her past what she’d ever known, winded by his size and astounded by the sensation, she watched as he drew a breath and shuddered, his eyes closed as his jaw flexed.

 

She ran her hands around the muscles of his arms, tracing the curves of his strong back until his eyes opened and he leaned down to kiss her again.

 

“You okay?” he asked.

 

“So okay,” she said, moving to kiss the tip of his nose.

 

“I don’t want to crush you,” he said, as he began to move slowly, gently rocking inside her as he searched her eyes.

 

She smiled at his beauty. Someone so large, so capable of power and, she received his tenderest care.

 

 _Holy God, this is too good to be true_.

 

“Make me yours.”

 

She didn’t have to tell him twice.

 

Her soulmate took her hard to the edge of ecstasy, his fierce brown eyes searing hers. His fingertips bruised her hips as he clung to her, shaking, his hips jerking as his cock devoured her. Carelessly, she gave herself the freedom of permanence and unburdened herself of manners.

She was as loud as she wanted to be, as needy, as demanding, and free.

 

Her soft pussy split wide with him.

 

Reaching between them, her fingers caressed the apex of her thighs where his thick cock slid back and forth while he groaned.

 

“Come with me,” he begged as their bodies slid with sweat against one another. “Please, baby, come hard on me.”

 

She crested her orgasm beneath him and roared her release, his name tumbling from her lips as she shook.

 

“My soulmate,” she whispered as he jerked inside her, twitching his release until his broken moans subsided.

 

Collapsing, he pulled her against him, kissing her hair as their breathing calmed.

  
  


When her phone rang, they were both still understandably out of breath.

 

“Ignore it,” Ben said when it rang a second time.

 

“Definitely.”

 

By the third consecutive phone call, Rey’s brain had reengaged and she ran to the living room, leaving her soulmate in her bed to chuckle at her naked, sprinting form.

 

“Poe,” she said, more breathlessly than she intended as she answered, walking quickly back to bed. “Hey. What’s up?”

 

She crawled into bed beside Ben, curled close to him as he kissed her face, holding the phone away from her mouth to kiss him back properly.

She ran a free hand through his hair, a wonder up close, and he laid against her breasts as he tightened his arms beneath her. His body cradled between her legs, she laced their legs, and pulled him close.

 

“Hey,” Poe said. “Listen, I gotta talk to you.”

 

She smiled as Ben’s eyes met hers.

“Poe, it’s alright.”

 

She ran the back of her hand lovingly against Ben’s cheek as he kissed her stomach and closed his eyes, listening.

 

“Rey, just. Please, just stay with me a sec, I gotta tell you something really important. I sort of know something you need to know.”

 

“Poe…” she smiled, shaking her head.

 

“No, Rey, here’s the thing, just…” he took a deep breath. “I think I know who your soulmate is. Or rather, I’ve been told who your soulmate is. And I’m not gonna tell you necessarily unless you make me tell you because listen, just between you and me, I am _dying_ for somebody to make me tell you but seriously, I know it’s not my place to tell so, I hope you can understand that I know who your soulmate is but…”

 

 _“Poe,”_ Rey interrupted. “I _know_ who my soulmate is.”  

 

“You. You do? You know who it is?”

 

“I know who it is. He’s here,” she grinned, threading her fingers through Ben’s hair as her nails lazily scratched his scalp. His head lay nestled against her breasts and his hands held her body under himself tightly, like she was precious to him. A rising tide of bliss rocked her heart.

 

“He’s there? As in, he’s _with_ you?”

 

“Ben is here, Poe. With me, in my apartment.”

 

She listened to him exhale and relax and she snuggled further beneath Ben’s still body. Everything about how they fit together was delicious.

 

“Thank. _God._ He has been driving me crazy. Do you know he was at my place at five this morning, telling me to come get food with him? Five in the morning! On a Saturday! After I was up half the night for that party! Good God, woman, he’s been half-crazed out of his mind waiting to get at you, and driving me crazy, too.”

 

She smiled as Poe chattered, caressing Ben’s face, his shoulder, his hair as she watched him where he lay against her chest.

 

_So freaking handsome._

_Wonderful, magical man._

_How did I get this lucky?_

 

“Are you guys…I mean…do you need anything? You don’t need anything do you? Like condoms or…no, ya know what, never mind. Don’t tell me. Just, do you need anything?”

 

“We’re good,” Rey assured him. “We have everything we need.”

 

“Okay. Good. That’s good. You guys have fun. I mean, have a good time. I mean - _shit_ \- just, I’ll see you guys later. Not too much later but, not too soon either. I mean, I’ll keep your brother busy. I mean - _fuck it_ , ya know what, just have Ben text me sometime. I’m hanging up now. And congratulations. And goodbye.”

 

She silenced her phone as she tossed it aside, content to be lost in her man’s arms.

She burrowed further into the pillows behind her and traced the shell of his ear as she ran her fingers through his hair. He’d fallen asleep, her gorgeous, big man, all the adrenaline drained after a sleepless night.

 

He found rest here and it filled her soul to the brim with satisfaction.

 

The depth and width of the bond between them, the soulmate thread that wound its way to one another and back again felt palpable. They had found one another, in a big, unknown world and it was breathtaking.

She stared at his face, calm and handsome, and she tried to grasp the fact she’d pleaded with the universe to let it be him.

And it was.

It was unbelievable and irrefutable.

It was striking.

  
_Heartstruck._ _I get it._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... this is me...
> 
>  
> 
> ... and this is my brain.


	8. Weather

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We have only the Epilogue to go and we're done, folks!  
> Thanks to my sweet [Sage McMae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SageMcMae/pseuds/SageMcMae) for the mood board - kisses!

 

_Ben_

 

_This was just something else completely._

 

They’d had sex on the bed, and the floor, then in the shower, and he’d eaten her pussy while she sucked him off last night before they feel asleep tangled in her bed, exhausted. Ben laid staring at her silently, watching her face while she slept, wondering how he'd gotten so lucky.

Whatever he’d experienced with other girls before, it didn’t hold a candle to holding his girl, feeling whatever the fuck it was she did to his heart.

 

Sunlight peeked through the sheers over her windows, car horns and street noises punctuating the silence on the city street outside. He smiled in amusement as her brow furrowed in her sleep.

 

 _She’s so beautiful, but then she’s somehow fucking adorable, too_.

 

There just was nothing like knowing this woman was _made_ for him, lovely and soft and warm, and he’d never tire of the confident satisfaction that offered.

 

A taxi sounded off beyond the window, and Rey stirred. Her hands skimmed his chest as she pulled them into fists, tucking her head beneath Ben’s chin as she curled into him with a disgruntled moan.

 

“Too early,” she whined against his skin, snuggling deeply.

 

“Go back to sleep,” he encouraged, tightening his arms around her and kissing her hair. “I’ve got you.”

 

She hummed happily and tossed a leg lazily over his calf.

 

 _Heaven_.

  
The phone still inside his jeans pocket woke him, buzzing on the floor where he’d left his pants when he woke again. Sunday streamed brightly in the autumn bustle of a Brooklyn morning while Ben inhaled sharply and rubbed his eyes awake. Rey was gone, possibly in the kitchen if his ears were tuned correctly, and he stretched with a grin as his mind replayed snippets of yesterday. 

Rolling onto his back, he laced his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling while his mind cleared, remembering.

 

_The newspaper._

_The emails._

_The train._

_The sex._

 

He grinned as he pulled on his boxers and tugged his phone from his jeans, reading the text his mother had sent a moment earlier.

 

_Ben, what the hell?_

_Are you alright? Where are you?_

_I thought you were going to be with_

_me when you said you were coming_

_home this weekend. Are you in some_

_sort of trouble? Call me, please._

_Mom_

 

Shaking his head at his mother’s predictable penchant for guilt trips, he sat down at the edge of the bed and dialed her number.

She answered after a single ring.

 

“So? New?”

 

“I’m sorry,” he said.

 

“Where are you? I thought we were going to have brunch today. What’s going on? Did I hear you come in last night? Benjamin, why would you even come home this weekend if…”

 

“I met someone,” he interrupted. “Someone very special, mom.”

 

“Someone very…so, a girl, then?”

 

“ _My_ girl, mom. My woman. I met my soulmate.”

 

His smile broke wide as Rey entered the bedroom with a cup of coffee for him, doctored the way he liked it. She’d studied him as he’d made a cup after sex when they’d napped together at lunchtime yesterday, and she’d teased him.

 

_“How much sugar does my man put in his coffee?” she’d murmured, sweet talk and snuggles. “Want to make sure I can duplicate your baby coffee.”_

_“Baby coffee?” he’d asked with feigned outrage. “This is manly coffee, what are you talking about?”_

_“Right,” she had grinned, as she climbed into his lap with a mug of black espresso, comparing it to Ben’s heavily cream and sugared mug. “Of course it is, my big, strong, baby-coffee-drinking man.”_

 

He’d need to tickle her relentlessly for that, but with coffee in their hands, he’d have to wait to retaliate. Once he’d gotten her naked again, he’d definitely gotten even.

 

His mother gasped audibly into the phone as Rey drew an arm around Ben’s shoulders and kissed his cheek while she sat beside him on the bed, cradling her own coffee as she listened. He smiled, his eyes meeting Rey’s as he updated his mom.

 

“It’s happened,” Leia announced more to herself than Ben. “It’s finally happened!”

 

Ben rolled his eyes briefly and resumed watching Rey as she sipped her coffee and held him.

 

“Yes. It happened.”

 

“And you’re sure? You felt the spark? And one of you had some sort of change to prove she’s it? You’re heartstruck?”

 

“I’m sure. I felt plenty,” he affirmed, winking at Rey.

 

“Oh my God, it’s _beshert._ ”

 

“Yep. Meant to be. One hundred percent.”

 

“Can I meet her? I mean, can you bring her to brunch?”

 

Ben sighed. Apparently, meeting your future wife and soulmate was one thing, but brunch plans with your Manhattanite mother were not negated just because you’d done so.

He moved the phone away to his thigh, muffling it.

 

“She wants us to come to brunch,” he told Rey quietly, relieved when she smiled and raised her eyebrows.

 

“Are you sure? You really want me to meet her?”

 

“I want everyone on the goddamn planet to know you’re mine. Yeah, of course you can meet her.”

 

Rey smiled and Ben had to kiss her.

 

“Okay, Mom,” he said, bringing the phone to his ear. “What time and where?”

 

“Oh my God! Eleven o’clock. At the club. And you’ll bring your soulmate!” she sang happily.

 

“I’ll bring my soulmate,” he said, looking at Rey’s shining hazel eyes as she gazed back at him above her coffee cup.

 

“Alright, _ugh,_ so much to do...wait! Ben!”

 

“Yes, mom?” he huffed lightly, ready to get off the phone and give his girl some attention.

 

“What’s her name?”

 

“Rey,” he said, kissing the tip of her nose as her shoulders pulled up to her neck and she smiled. “Her name is Rey.”

 

“Rey Solo,” Leia smiled as she pronounced it. “I love her already.”

 

“Alright. Hanging up now.”

 

“Eleven o’clock. You’ll meet me there.”

 

“Eleven. Bye. Love you.”

 

“Love you, too. Love you so much, oh my God this is amazing, it’s finally…” Leia ended the call, still rattling off excitedly.

 

Ben rolled his eyes and took a swig of coffee, darkening the phone to see what time it was.

 

9:00 AM.

 _We’ve got time_.

 

He swallowed his coffee quickly and took Rey’s empty mug as she drained it, placing them on the bedside table as he settled himself atop her, attacking her neck and mouth.

 

He loved the way she moved beneath him, clawing gently at his shoulders and arms, murmuring his name, telling him how good he felt. He loved how she reached between them to palm him through his boxers and the pouty way she whined how much she needed him inside her. When she gasped as he entered her, moaning when he was seated fully, he groaned at both the sensation and her voice, the intoxicating combination nearly undoing him. From the way her legs embraced him to the way she shoved at his chest, surprising him into abruptly leaning backwards to present her ass to him, looking at him over her shoulder, her narrow waist and curved hips open and waiting under his him, she was perfect for him in every way.

 

“Oh my God, baby, you’re magic,” he groaned as his eyes squeezed shut, sliding into her.

 

He’d never get tired of the moans and gasps he pulled from her as he thrust into her, the rightness of their bodies together tightening exquisitely around his hard cock. There was no way he was ever letting her go, nothing would stand between him and his girl. With every press of his body into hers he claimed it further, fingers digging into her hips as his thumbs met at her spine.

 

“Oh God,” she panted, squeezing her cunt around him as she shouted her climax.

 

“Yeah, that’s my good girl,” he smirked as he smoothed a hand up her back. He ran one hand into her hair, his fingers clenched at her scalp, tugging gently as his other hand squeezed her ass. “That’s it.”

 

“Come in me, Ben, please,” she gasped, burying her face in the pillows as he sped up and drove deeply inside her.

 

 _“Fuck, fuck,”_ he cried as his hips stuttered, filling her as he choked at the pleasure. “So good, oh my fucking god.”

 

Rey grinned naughtily over her shoulder at him as he met her eyes, his hands still planted in her hair and on her hip.

 

“Can I trust you to behave or do we need to shower separately?”

 

“Woman, you’re the one wearing me out. You’re in charge, here. You tell me.”

 

“I definitely cannot be trusted,” she said, turning around on her knees and crawling towards him. She placed her hands on his shoulders and reached up to kiss him, licking into his mouth with a radiant smile.

 

“That’s my girl. Yeah, I’m definitely showering with you.”

 

She bounced off the bed and pulled her hair into a topknot while Ben grabbed his jeans before they left the bedroom. He’d have to make due with his clothes from yesterday. Hopefully, he wouldn’t be wearing them for long, anyhow.

 

“Woah!” he exclaimed, when Rey smacked his bare ass, giggling as she ran to the bathroom.

 

“I couldn’t help it,” she laughed as he swept her into his arms, kissing a sharp love bite into her neck as retribution. “Such a nice bottom my soulmate has!”

 

“Hey!” she shouted a moment later, when he gently smacked her ass as he dropped her to the floor.  

 

The mint green tile and plastic curtain steamed the small bathroom quickly, giving Ben time to run his hands over Rey’s body while she twisted in his arms. His hands skimmed her breasts hungrily, insatiably, covering her stomach and soft pussy with his calloused fingers and she leaned behind and ran her hands into his hair. He pulled his arms around her as he had yesterday, wrapping her tightly against his chest as the steam billowed.

 

Rey stepped into the shower and held out a hand as Ben stepped over the porcelain tub edge to join her.

 

Their fingers laced and the water drenched them as he cupped her face, kissing her under the spray. 

 

_No wonder people waited for their soulmates._ _This is something else._

 

They were only fifteen minutes late to brunch, and while technically surprised, they weren’t entirely shocked Leia had rounded up their friends.

Poe smiled at them from his seat, grinning knowingly. Leia had called him excitedly at first, and then verbally bludgeoned him when she’d found out Ben’s best friend had known who her son’s soulmate was for days. Finn, whom Poe had then called immediately, was next to him, smiling happily as they approached. Finally, the Tico sisters, who had ended up crashing at Finn's while they escaped Rey’s pending sexcapade the day prior, were seated at the circular table flanking Leia.

Everyone cheered when Ben pulled Rey though the club to their table, hands laced and smiling brightly.

 

She blushed when everyone stood to embrace the new couple, and Ben beamed at her while she embraced each person.

 

When Rey’s hand slid over his jeans-clad knee under the linen tablecloth, his arm snaked around her shoulders to tug her close. He listened proudly as she relayed their story to the small group. His mother teared up, dabbing at her eyes with a linen napkin, Paige and Rose sighing as they listened animatedly. Poe and Finn exchanged a secretly loving look at one another Ben didn’t miss.

He pulled her close as she finished and pressed a kiss to her temple, lighter than air and high as a kite.

 

As they walked to the train station, he dragged Rey under his arm and she burrowed close. The autumn breeze whipped quietly around them, leaving Rey’s nose pink and her arms wound around Ben’s middle.

 

 _There we go,_ he thought as she sat in his lap as soon as he was seated on the train.

 

He wondered if he'd ever give a fuck if people stared at them. Probably not.

There may come a time when Rey couldn’t climb into his lap once she was heavily pregnant with his baby but, for now, she was exactly where he wanted her.

 Which was, coincidentally, where he wanted to be, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is what [beshert](https://bashert04.com/about/) means. (hint: it's Yiddish. That's what us [Ashkenazi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashkenazi_Jews) Jews speak.)  
> Raise your hand if your Jewish parents or grandparents still greet you with _"So? Nu?"_ like mine do.  
>  My grands are all gone now but, all four, Jews like both my parents, sprinkled plenty of Yiddish into my vocab growing up. It never even registered how much Yiddish we spoke until I married a gentile. Then, I realized _oy gavalt_ , _alter cocker_ , _shvitz_ and _toochas_ may have been words I was used to but, I was leaving my man _meshuggina_ until I educated him. 
> 
> As newlyweds, my _goyim_ husband told my mother, while prepping Thanksgving dinner with her, "don't worry, I washed the _schmuck_ off the mushrooms."  
>  He meant to say _schmutzik_.
> 
> I think she almost swallowed her tongue. 
> 
> Here's a handy [list of words](http://www.sbjf.org/sbjco/schmaltz/yiddish_phrases.htm) you maybe didn't even realize are Yiddish. 
> 
>  
> 
>    
>  ...this is my brain, judging me for writing a 9-chapter new work when I have three fics waiting to be completed. 
> 
> ...and this is me, with fewer than zero fucks to give.


	9. Announcements

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided writing 17K+ words for a single sentence prompt fill mandated using the prompt again.  
> Thank you, [@nancylovesreylo](https://nancylovesreylo.tumblr.com) and [@sularae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SulaRae/works) for an excellent prompt. ( _"He's not my boyfriend."_ )
> 
> THANK YOU, beauties, for reading this mess.  
> I think I write because I love writing but, maybe it's so I can get more of your comments. You guys give me life and I want to give it back.  
> I love you guys <3
> 
> P.S. I made a _Reylo Fic Rec_ list of lesser-known gems [right here](https://strawberrycupcakehuckleberrypie.tumblr.com/post/177449706729/fluffqueen-fall-fic-recs-hello-and-welcome-to) on [my tumblr](https://strawberrycupcakehuckleberrypie.tumblr.com/), if you need something to read.

****  
  


 

 

_Rey_

 

 _I’m definitely going to talk Jessika into ordering lunch today_.

 

Rey watched the snow race to the ground outside as she walked past the windows, winding her way from her editor’s office back to her desk. She’d gotten her copy dropped off just in time thanks to a fantastic source who’d provided just what she’d been hoping to scoop. She had been planning on walking to the deli with Jessika for lunch, fantasizing about the mile-high pastrami on rye from around the corner, but the weather didn’t look promising.

 

Sitting down at her desk, she opened her emails, sliding her chair beneath the desk, pulling her pencil from her bun atop her head as she prepared to take notes on a lead.

 

An email blinked at her and she grinned widely as she recognized the familiar handle.

 

_Dear heartstruck_woman,_

_I’m going to need you to prepare yourself. I’m afraid I might hurt you a little, I’m going to fuck you so hard._

 

Rey peeked around, making sure no one was reading over her shoulder before continuing. Luckily, all heads were tucked inside cubicles around her and she leaned close to her computer screen. His delicious words made her mouth water and her heart thud inside her chest as she read on.

 

_I mean, I’ve had seasons of celibacy. Hell, I’ve had more celibacy than I would admit if I was interested in sounding macho, but baby, being away from your mouth, your beautiful pussy, your sweet arms - it's really more than I should be expected to survive._

_Let’s be honest._

 

Rey grinned and bit her lip as she giggled deliciously. She was torn between wanting to savor every word and gulp it down ravenously.

 _I’ll read it fast and then go back and savor next read-through,_ she thought, making a deal with herself.

 

 _Quitting isn’t the sacrifice. The_ sacrifice _has been being away from you three weeks in a row. I’ve had just about enough of that, a lifetime’s worth of deprivation and I definitely need you to comfort your man. In, you know,_ ways. _(I am winking at you.)_

_I dream about you, Rey._

_I even daydream about you._

_Holding you. Eating you out. Cuddling with you while you rant about work. Feeding you because you fucking love food. (Stop. You know you do. It’s adorable.) Listening to you. Feeling your arms around me, all wiry and precious. Fucking you silly. Licking your perfect tits. Watching my cum slip out of you._

_Alright, ya know what, I need to wrap this up, I’m getting a boner and it’s my last fucking day of work, I can’t be popping a hard-on at lunch with my boss._

 

 

She snorted.

_Damn._

She peered around, hopeful she hadn’t alerted any co-workers to her outburst of amusement.

Mercifully, no one appeared to notice so, she turned back to the screen, devouring his words.

 

_It’s probably poor form and misogynistic to ask you to not wear a bra when I see you. That’s bad, right? Leia would have a fit. Please do not tell my mother I just asked you that. Do you feel objectified? I apologize, baby. If not, could you please skip the bra?_

_God, I miss you._

_Want my hands on your body so bad I can’t stand it._

_And, now I need to sign off because fuck. This is not conducive to a healthy work environment._

_Yours forever, your heartstruck_man,_

_Ben_

 

She leaned back in her chair with a dreamy sigh and curled a lock of hair around her finger as she reread the email.

_God, I have it so bad._

 

She nearly jumped out of her skin when Snap appeared at her elbow, and she scurried to minimize the email as quickly as possible. She was still holding her breath in a rush of anxiety when she turned to see him. She raised her eyebrows high and cocked her head innocently as she found her voice.

 

“Hey,” he said. “Can I go over some things with you?”

 

“Sure,” she said, reaching to exit from her email. “Just a sec. Okay. Yeah, sure. What’s up?”

 

_That was close._

 

Take-out was never as tasty as eating at the deli but, her heart was set on that sandwich, damn it, and even if the snow wouldn’t break at least she’d still get a yummy lunch and a nice black-and-white cookie out of it as she waited till end of business.

Jessika raved about a new salon, Rose joined and the conversation shifted to movies opening that weekend, and Rey’s mind wandered. She was distracted, remembering she needed to finish packing.

Her new key burned a hole in her pocket. 

 

Rose and Jess were a great match as new roomies, and with Paige in Vietnam for the foreseeable future, this was a good time to get all transitions underway. Rey missed her already, but based on her daily photo upload, it was clear the spark hadn’t made a mistake when she’d gone home to visit her grandparents. Her soulmate was perfect for her.

Language barrier or not, love vaulted high over those sorts of hurdles, and Paige was clearly glowing.

 

The day inched along.

 

Rey must have glanced at the clock a thousand times by four pm.

At five, she grabbed a cup of black coffee, bitter and cooling but, she chugged it for strength anyhow. No way was she falling asleep early tonight.

 

 _Come to mama,_ she thought as the clock struck six.

 

She hurried to the bathroom, peering at herself in the mirror as she took stock. She yanked her hair into a smoother ponytail, straightened her cardigan over her pinstripe button-down and snuck into a stall to slip her bra out through her sleeve.

 

_What?_ _Sue me._

 

A swipe of lip and cheek stain and she shrugged at her reflection as she hurried to her desk, slinging her bag over her shoulder.

 

“Big weekend planned?”

 

Rey smiled brightly as she stepped into the elevator where Ahsoka stood waiting when the doors opened.

 

“Yep,” Rey grinned as she watched the numbers click by as the elevator descended.

 

_9…8…7…_

 

“Christmas shopping this weekend?” the editor asked.

 

“Moving,” Rey answered, watching the numbers, as she flashed a brief smile at Ahsoka. “Just excited to get going.”

 

“Ah. Exhausting work, moving but, hopefully a good move for you.”

 

“A good move,” Rey murmured, watching the numbers diminish. "Not far, not leaving my job."

 

_…5…4…3…_

 

“Well, that's good. Glad to have you stay. I hope the three-day weekend helps, then!”

 

“Oh yeah,” Rey said, feeling her heart speed up as they approached the lobby. “You too.”

 

Her mind raced to all the sex she knew they’d have. All the ways she wanted to debauch her man’s beautiful body, how messy she intended to make his hair, the color his lips would be once she’d kissed him good and hard. She thought about brunch coming up on Sunday with Leia, how they’d get to tell her about their new place and what a fuss she was likely to make once they told her all their plans.

She wanted to make the most of their three days off, but then again, she wanted to relish every moment, take it slow and enjoy. After all, they had Christmas and Hannukah to look forward to, and everything that came after.

 

Every glorious, difficult thing that crossed her path now, he’d be beside her.

The truck would arrive tomorrow, and by this time next week, they’d be unpacked. No more goodbyes, no more parting, no more traveling to Boston for a few stolen hours or a lazy weekend that ended in tears when she headed home.

 

From now on, he was all hers. Here. Always.

Right where she wanted him.

 

Rey couldn’t wait to start the rest of her life.

 

_…2…1…_

 

Ahsoka eyed her curiously and Rey smiled one last time before stepping free of the elevator as soon as the doors opened.

Hitching her bag higher, she hustled across the glossy lobby tiles to the tall, glass doors. The snow was falling lighter, chunky, dry flakes landing gracefully, and Rey saw him right away.

 

_There._

Right at the bottom of the stone stairs, ankles crossed, arms across his chest he stood leaning against his black car while snowflakes melted into his dark hair.

 

Shoving the heavy door away, she inhaled deeply as the bracing winter breeze welcomed her.

 

His eyes found hers immediately and she broke into a breathless smile as he smirked up at her, tender and barely decent.

His arms dropped to his sides and he moved to climb the stairs as Rey took a deep breath and gazed at her heartstruck man.

 

“Is that your boyfriend?” Ahsoka asked.

 

“Oh,” Rey turned, never taking her eyes off Ben as he took the stairs two at a time towards her. “He’s not my boyfriend. He’s my soulmate.”

 

 

**THE END**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...this is my brain after my girl, @kitten-the-cat said: _"Berry, you know what you should write? A devoted-Reylo-faux-incest-missionary-sex-kink-'porn-without-plot'-plus-copious-descriptions-of-his-weight-on-top-of-her-fic,"_ when I said _"I'm worried I write too much vanilla, missionary smut. Like, it's all non-BDSM, non-butt plugged, non-tied-up sex. No strippers, no pole dancing, no sugar daddys. Is this way boring?"_
> 
> So, _now_ I have to write it. The devoted-Reylo-faux-incest-missionary-sex-kink fic. With copious descriptions of his weight on top of her. Because Kitten has affirmed my kinks, damn it. 
> 
> But, first: [nevermind I'll find someone like you](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14902328/chapters/34515677) updates. And [North Shore](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14126034/chapters/32551368). And [True North](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14254167/chapters/32873079). 
> 
>  
> 
> ...apparently my brain is a lot of Judge Judy?
> 
> ...and if this ain't me, I don't know what is.

**Author's Note:**

> come find me on tumblr [strawberrycupcakehuckleberrypie.tumblr.com](https://strawberrycupcakehuckleberrypie.tumblr.com/)


End file.
